NFL Schedule First Thoughts

When the Jets got Aaron Rodgers, you knew they'd get a ton of primetime games.  Them getting the maximum six (I'm counting the Black Friday game since it's national) with four of those at home, though?  Very surprising.  The Giants and Jets are also both home in the same week a lot.  Normally it's like once or twice a season.  This season, there's four, including twice in September where they're both hosting on Sunday and Monday night.

Also, why does the NFL love the San Francisco 49ers so much?  I don't understand it.  Yes, they're in the NFC Championship Game every year, but they're also one of the most overrated teams in the league.  And regardless, no team under any circumstances should get to play home primetime games on the two biggest days on the league calendar--the Thanksgiving and Christmas tripleheaders.  As for my thoughts on the rest of the schedule...

Week 1: I'm sorry, but the Lions were an odd choice as the Chiefs' opponent for the opening game.  Detroit should be good this season, but that's not exactly a marquee matchup.  So why do you want it to start the season?  Especially when there was a Super Bowl rematch there for the taking?  I'm not surprised that the once-annual Giants-Cowboys Sunday night opener is back now that the Giants are good again.

Week 2: They're doing that whole two Monday night games a few times again this season, starting with Saints-Panthers and Browns-Steelers.  Again, why are these prime time games in Week 2?  Although, it appears that all of the complaining Al Michaels did about the quality of the Thursday night schedule last season worked.  The first Amazon Thursday night game is Vikings-Eagles.

Week 3: Another Monday night double dip, with a much-more-appealing Eagles-Bucs matchup on ABC and a Super Bowl LVI rematch on ESPN.  The Thursday night game is Giants-49ers, as the Giants stay out west after playing the Cardinals.  Steelers-Raiders is on Sunday night, which, again, why?  The best matchup of Week 3 might be Chargers-Vikings, which is a 1:00 regional game on FOX.

Week 4: Personally, I think it's cool that the Jaguars are gonna play back-to-back games in London.  Their annual home game in the UK is against Atlanta.  This is the second of the two New York double prime times over the first four weeks.  Jets-Chiefs on Sunday night, Giants-Seahawks on Monday night.  Fun fact about Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith.  He was the QB who started for the Giants that week Eli Manning was benched, ending Eli's consecutive starts streak.

Week 5: Buffalo-Jacksonville in London is the first of many good matchups in Week 5.  Chiefs-Vikings in the national late game.  Cowboys-49ers on Sunday night.  I'm even on board with the Packers-Raiders Monday night game.

Week 6: Our third and final game in London is Ravens vs. Titans.  And the lovefest with the New York teams continues.  Eagles-Jets in the national late game, Giants-Bills on Sunday night.  The Monday night game is Cowboys-Chargers, as Dallas appears to be another popular early season primetime pick.  That whole two Thursday night thing will come into play, too, with the Chiefs playing their second Thursday night home game of the season (although, I'm not sure if the Kickoff Game counts).

Week 7: Oddly, there isn't anything that jumps off the page in Week 7.  The international series takes a week off as it shifts from London to Frankfurt, so no 9:30 game.  The best afternoon game on Sunday is Chargers-Chiefs in Kansas City.  Dolphins-Eagles on Sunday night and the NFL's favorite team, the 49ers, is in Minnesota on Monday night.

Week 8: Tampa Bay at Buffalo starts the week, so Amazon gets another good one (although, I will admit to having no absolutely idea how good a Brady-less Bucs team will be).  The Jets and Giants play each other.  It's a Giants home game, which means the Jets have 10 games at Met Life Stadium this season!  I'm also curious to see what the first Rodgers-less Packers-Vikings game in years will be like!

Week 9: Kansas City and Miami in the first-ever NFL regular season game in Frankfurt.  Aaron Rodgers on Monday Night Football yet again, with the Jets hosting the Chargers.  The Bills-Bengals matchup you kinda figured would be in primetime.  It was just a matter of when and on which channel.  The answers are Week 9 and NBC.

Week 10: We wrap up the international series with Colts-Patriots in Frankfurt.  Giants-Cowboys Round II is the FOX national late game, and the Jets are in prime time yet again, this time in Las Vegas to play the Raiders.  Broncos-Bills on Monday night.  And, interestingly, both Super Bowl teams have their bye before facing each other in Week 11.

Week 11: My guess is that they put the Super Bowl rematch on Monday night in Week 11 so that they could use it as a lead-in to the Thanksgiving tripleheader three days later.  Either that or it's the one game ESPN said, "We want that one!", so they gave it to them.  Cincinnati and Baltimore start the week on Thursday night.  Tennessee and Jacksonville, meanwhile, could very well determine who wins the AFC South.

Week 12: It's all NFC on Thanksgiving: Packers-Lions, Commanders-Cowboys, Seahawks-49ers.  Then the highly-anticipated first-ever Black Friday game between the Jets and Dolphins.  You know how important Week 12 is because the Sunday games are always good, too.  Bills-Eagles is the national late game and Ravens-Chargers on Sunday night.  Then the rest of the NFC North goes at it on Monday night when the Bears visit Minnesota.

Week 13: The tradition of having Dallas play its Thursday night game in Week 13 against one of the other teams that played on Thanksgiving continues.  This time it's against Seattle.  There's also a decent 1:00 game between the Chargers and Patriots.  An NFC Championship Game rematch in the national late game, Kansas City-Green Bay on Sunday night, and Cincinnati-Jacksonville on Monday night.  All three of those should be good.

Week 14: You can tell it's getting down the stretch when the primetime games appear very unlikely to be flexed out.  Case in point: Eagles-Cowboys on Sunday night, and the dual Monday night games featuring Tennessee-Miami and Packers-Giants.  The Bills-Chiefs game, meanwhile, is a CBS late game.  I wouldn't be surprised if that was by request.

Week 15: Lots of TBA's on the schedule since this is when we have that NFL Network Saturday tripleheader.  My very early guess for the three that'll ultimately be chosen: Vikings-Bengals, Broncos-Lions and Steelers-Colts.  As for the games already scheduled, Cowboys-Bills sure looks like the best.

Week 16: As my brother-in-law said (in more colorful terms), the NFL is basically saying to the NBA, "Christmas ain't yours anymore!"  Of course, Christmas is on a Wednesday in 2024, so there likely won't be one next season, but that's beside the point.  My biggest question about Week 16 was how they'd handle the Sunday night game on Christmas Eve.  Well, it's on NFL Network.  NBC has a Saturday afternoon game instead, then a Bills-Chargers matchup exclusively on Peacock on Saturday night.

Week 17: Just as I was wondering how they'd handle the Christmas Eve Sunday night game, I was wondering the same thing about the New Year's Day Monday night game.  The Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl are the CFP semifinals this season, so they get their traditional slots.  Which moves the Monday night game (between the Cowboys and Lions) to Saturday.  As I expected, Miley Cyrus will get the boot because of Sunday Night Football.  And, how about finishing 2023 with Bengals-Chiefs in Kansas City?

Week 18: This season, they did something different with the Week 18 schedule.  Every game is listed as "TBA."  I guess they determined that's just easier, seeing as they sometimes wait until after the Week 17 Monday night game to finalize it.  Just based on who I think will be good this season, I'm saying the Sunday night candidates will be Chiefs-Chargers, Bills-Dolphins, Jaguars-Titans and Eagles-Giants.